Watch North For Free

Admirable film.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

A great movie with a lot of star actors and actresses. It's fun and fanciful while it explorers deeper issues and meanings about ourselves. Definitely worth the watch with kids or the whole family.You should just ignore most of the other reviews. It seems as if people do not have a mind of their own and just keep spouting off about how "Siskel & Ebert didn't like it, therefore I didn't like it." So I guess 2 people speak for the entire world of film now? What a boring world that would be. How about you people actually watch the film and evaluate on your own accord; or is that too difficult? If so, then you should not be allowed to pass judgment on anything. What is the point of a review system when all you do is follow one or 2 people on what they think? Might as well just stop people from posting and just allow 1 person to make all decisions.

North (Elijah Wood) keeps being ignored by his parents (Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus). He is all stressed out. After talking to the mall Easter Bunny (Bruce Willis), he decides to sue to become a free agent kid. He gets Arthur Belt (Jon Lovitz) as his lawyer. The judge gives North until Labor Day to find new parents or go back to his old parents or be sent to an orphanage. He goes off on a worldwide search for new parents with all kinds of wild couples applying.The basic premise demeans the idea of childhood and family. Other than that, there isn't anything particularly funny in this movie. I don't know if there is something about the Alan Zweibel novel that director Rob Reiner missed. It needs to have a wilder crazier wackier sense of style. It needs to bring the audience into a completely different world. The movie needs to be played like a kid's fantasy. Having Bruce Willis play various characters doesn't give it that magical feeling. This movie needs to be seen through a lens of magic. This is not simply boring or unfunny. This is wrong headed.

Siskel & Ebert really tore this film up top to bottom. Largely, they're absolutely right. But they also have at it in regards to the premise, and I would disagree with that. I actually think this is a pretty good concept for a family film. The writing is where this movie falls flat on it's face.There's nothing wrong with a fantasy-comedy film about a boy who sets out on an world trip to find the "perfect" parents. Nothing at all, unless it's this movie. North has got to be one of the most culturally insensitive, factually inaccurate, and stereotypical films I've ever seen. The entire problem with how the different cultures are depicted is that they're written as if this is a parody film. No, this is a FAMILY COMEDY (we'll use the word "comedy" pretty loosely here). Not a parody film. Big difference. This movie in no way purports to be a parody, nor does it attempt to draw that type of audience. That Rob Reiner would have released such a film really shocks me.These are the biggest problems, the inaccuracies and cultural insensitivity. Not for this type of film, not for it's intended audience. It's actually pretty appalling. Sure, I get what the writers were trying to do, the direction they were trying to go in. But that's not enough. Not when the end product is a cold-hearted insult to several different cultures. It's as misguided and stereotypical as a minstrel show.On top of that, this movie simply isn't very funny. Again, you get how they were TRYING to be funny. But you see it fall absolutely short.I have no beef with the concept at all. Had this movie been written in an entirely different manner, they'd have had a solid film here. It even has some solid star power. Nothing holds this back from being good more than the absolutely atrocious script. A script which seems to think that it's an entirely different film for an entirely different audience. And that leaves this movie with very little to make it worthwhile.

I think the biggest problem with this film is that it has some great people in it. Elijah Wood, Bruce Willis and Rob Reiner. It could of been great, but no. There is only one joke in this film that I laughed at. Others either didn't make sense or just were not funny. The casting is terrible for the most part, the characters are nasty, the plot is stupid and the writing is strange. Wood, along with Graham Greene, Abe Vigoda and Matthew McCurly, do give us a nice performance, but that certainly does not make the film worth watching at all. It is terrible. It does not deserve to be watched. You should skip buying this film, unless you really want to see how bad it is.